Ernie - I've been butterflying longer than Wurzel's been alive and I'm still not a member of the exclusive green hairstreak in cop club! Fantastic stuff!
I've eaten a lot of mixed pickle sandwiches, though - usually Ashoka brand, which is by far the tastiest.
Guy
Search found 8103 matches
- Mon May 20, 2024 5:50 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Wurzel
- Replies: 5804
- Views: 2830542
- Sat May 18, 2024 6:43 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4327
- Views: 1104267
Re: Padfield
The weather is still dominated by cloud and rain but the butterflies are brilliant at exploiting any opportunities that arise. I had little time today, as I was teaching in the afternoon, but in the morning visited a site in the Val d'Hérens where Nickerl's fritillaries fly. When I arrived it was cl...
- Thu May 16, 2024 8:39 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4327
- Views: 1104267
Re: Padfield
So was this a case of Pathetic Fallacy (or the whatever the bird equivalent is)? Pathetic fallacy? You mean that wryneck wasn't really mocking me when he casually looked 180° to the left then 180° to the right? This has always been my jinx bird, if you'll excuse another pun. I saw my first in 2007,...
- Thu May 16, 2024 8:28 pm
- Forum: Orange-tip
- Topic: What a season!
- Replies: 3
- Views: 122
Re: What a season!
My memories of orange tips go back to when I was 7 too, Jack, though that was a mere fifty-three years ago. And even after all this time, and however many thousands of individuals, I still find them exquisite. Seeing the first orange tip of spring is always a highlight of the year.
Guy
Guy
- Thu May 16, 2024 12:46 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4327
- Views: 1104267
Re: Padfield
Thanks Wurzel and David. The weather has since degraded back to gloom and rain, and I really do worry for the butterflies this season. On Sunday I found my first grizzled skipper ( malvae ) on my local mountain but there was precious little else. The same day, a pain in my neck became a full-blown n...
- Sat May 11, 2024 7:51 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4327
- Views: 1104267
Re: Padfield
I knew there might be aurorae last night and kept a watchful eye out until about 23h00, but then went to bed. This was a mistake: Vincent Baudraz e-mailed me at one in the morning with an amazing shot of the northern lights, but by that time I was fast asleep and didn't get his urging to go outside!...
- Sat May 11, 2024 7:17 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4327
- Views: 1104267
Re: Padfield
Thanks, Wurzel and David. Breaks in the cloud have been few and far between - until today. I'll open a new post, so piccies can load better (my pages are so picture-heavy a lot of them don't load on first click).
Guy
Guy
- Sat May 11, 2024 7:15 pm
- Forum: Sightings
- Topic: Duke of Burgundy aberration
- Replies: 9
- Views: 193
Re: Duke of Burgundy aberration
What a fantastic butterfly - and fantastic shots too. In that last one, you can see his dangly front legs. I've never seen those before in a Duke - the males just look as if they have four legs.
Guy
Guy
Re: May 2024
And both were taras? That's remarkable!
Guy
- Tue May 07, 2024 5:34 pm
- Forum: Overseas
- Topic: Greek Delights - Spring 2024
- Replies: 19
- Views: 468
Re: Greek Delights - Spring 2024
Wonderful stuff, Pete, and congratulations on the inky! We all know that surreal feeling when a mythical butterfly materialises nonchalantly in front of you and for a moment you don't know if you're waking or dreaming. If you close your eyes or look away, you think, you'll wake up - then you look aw...
- Mon May 06, 2024 5:03 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: essex buzzard
- Replies: 2599
- Views: 1873107
Re: essex buzzard
Only just catching up with your diary, Buzzard. I'm so glad you had a great trip to Gibraltar. It was my first home outside Suffolk (back in 1983), and though it has changed in many ways since I was there, the Mediterranean Steps have changed the least (apart from the fact you now have to pay to acc...
- Sat May 04, 2024 6:36 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4327
- Views: 1104267
Re: Padfield
You're right, Rob, though I have a deep love of Suffolk, too. I will always return to relive memories. Recently, the weather has been grim again and yesterday visibility was down to a few metres, with cloud clinging to the mountain: https://www.guypadfield.com/images2024/3may2024c.jpg The snowline h...
- Thu May 02, 2024 9:24 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4327
- Views: 1104267
Re: Padfield
Hi Rob. I was born and bred in Suffolk, where altitude just isn't a thing (there is no English word for dénivellation :D ), but have lived most of my adult life in the Alps, where it is everything: the mountains define existence here. In fact, 'nostalgia' (' la nostalgie ') was originally recognised...
- Thu May 02, 2024 5:54 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Maximus
- Replies: 1541
- Views: 110620
Re: Maximus
Brilliant shot of the mating Duke and Duchess, Maximus.
What has ten legs and four wings?
Guy
What has ten legs and four wings?
Guy
- Sat Apr 27, 2024 5:27 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4327
- Views: 1104267
Re: Padfield
I had to go down to the valley yesterday morning, to do some two-way interpreting for a friend at a council meeting in a different commune. He dropped me back at Aigle Dépôt, right by the vineyards, where there was no snow and flowers were rejoicing in the sunshine. But no butterflies. It was very s...
- Fri Apr 26, 2024 7:56 pm
- Forum: Books, Articles, Videos, TV
- Topic: Butterflies of Borneo
- Replies: 2
- Views: 162
Re: Butterflies of Borneo
I do remember, Mike! In fact, I pre-ordered a copy at the same time as you and then, like you, gave up on it. Now I have a copy and will be posting a full review soon. Well done on photographing andromache! It's always nice to find endemics, especially when you go on once-in-a-lifetime trips.
Guy
Guy
- Thu Apr 25, 2024 8:44 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4327
- Views: 1104267
Re: Padfield
Hi Paul. Winter always has a sting in its tail and it is completely normal for there to be snow in April. In fact, by school folk wisdom, 50% of summer terms begin under snow. What is different this year, though, is the intensity and duration. I first moved to Switzerland in 1989 and can't remember ...
- Wed Apr 24, 2024 7:40 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4327
- Views: 1104267
Re: Padfield
Hi Rob. I'm on planet winter at the moment. It has snowed every day for ten days and temperatures have been down to -11°C at night. David asks about the small tortoiseshells: it's the violet fritillaries I'm most worried about at the moment. They began emerging in the local meadows about two weeks a...
- Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:55 pm
- Forum: Photography
- Topic: Panasonic Lumix FZ330
- Replies: 38
- Views: 23358
Re: Panasonic Lumix FZ330
Actually, that's a good point - these cameras are not waterproof. They're OK getting splashed and I even left my previous PowerShot outside overnight in the raing (in its carry bag) without damage; but then I accidentally dunked the same camera in a cattle trough last year and it appeared to die com...
- Sun Apr 21, 2024 3:21 pm
- Forum: Photography
- Topic: Panasonic Lumix FZ330
- Replies: 38
- Views: 23358
Re: Panasonic Lumix FZ330
Hi Nick. I feel a certain responsibility now! First, for butterflies, I always use the P setting on the wheel - never automatic. For long-exposure star shots &c., I use TV. The P setting lets you configure exactly what you want. It’s good to know how to navigate quickly to all the various settin...